Here is some news that many of you have been awaiting for a long, long time. We've been working very hard behind the scenes, building a new branch to the Supply Store. It's our European branch and even though some details still need to be finished off, it's now finally opening its doors!

What does this mean?

The Supply Store as you know it will not change, although new products in more different languages will appear over time. But if you hail from Kuwait, South-Africa or Belgium, your BookCrossing supplies will not be sent all the way from the USA anymore. They will be sent from within the EU. In fact, many of them will also be produced there (even though that may in some cases be more expensive for us).

So what changes can you expect to see?

- First of all, lower shipping costs for everyone outside of the USA.- Secondly, EU members can now be sure that their supplies are not coming from outside the EU, and will not be held up or taxed by customs, no matter how much they order at a time. - Thirdly, many shoppers outside the USA will now receive their order faster.

And let's not forget that shorter shipping routes also means less fuel and energy spent on getting those labels and stickers to your doorstep. That's better for the planet and for all of us.

All in all, we feel that the opening of the European branch is a good reason to celebrate. And in order to share the joy, here is our special offer, valid for a limited time:

For all orders made before or on July 15, shipping will be only 2 dollars.

Don't forget: as always, ordering supplies for a value of $ 30 or more will earn you a month of Wings.

For all orders made before or on July 15, shipping will be only 2 dollars.

Sounds good - but it also sounds as though transactions are still in dollars not euros, then!

Yes, for the time being the payment options remain unchanged: Credit Card or PayPal (or sending a cheque by snail mail ...).

Of course you can switch to *display* prices in Euro (or GBP) in the Online Store.

We are working on opening a European bank account though, so that it will be possible to pay by wire transfer. But as things stand this will still take a few weeks at least, probably rather a few months.

For all orders made before or on July 15, shipping will be only 2 dollars.

Sounds good - but it also sounds as though transactions are still in dollars not euros, then!

Yes, for the time being the payment options remain unchanged: Credit Card or PayPal (or sending a cheque by snail mail ...).Of course you can switch to *display* prices in Euro (or GBP) in the Online Store.We are working on opening a European bank account though, so that it will be possible to pay by wire transfer. But as things stand this will still take a few weeks at least, probably rather a few months.

I'm not... I just care how much leaves it, and what I get in return :-)

But what you think you are paying may not be what comes out of your bank account. I recently bought something from a Canadian company and it cost about £30 more than I expected because of the changes in the exchange rate between me placing my order and them processing the payment.

The banks here in the UK can and will charge a small commision rate for the exchange. I applied for 2 USA visas not so long ago and my bank (Natwest) charged me for the commision of using my card to order in US Dollars.

The banks here in the UK can and will charge a small commision rate for the exchange. I applied for 2 USA visas not so long ago and my bank (Natwest) charged me for the commision of using my card to order in US Dollars.

The banks here in the UK can and will charge a small commision rate for the exchange. I applied for 2 USA visas not so long ago and my bank (Natwest) charged me for the commision of using my card to order in US Dollars.

Banks in Australia also charge a commission for foreign currency transactions (for example, my bank charges 3% commission) and the amount paid varies depending on the exchange rate on the day. I assume Nu-Knees' bank does something similar. If the European Supply Store had the option of paying in Euros (or GB£), it would eliminate that issue for a lot of customers. But, alas, not me, unless I can somehow pay in Australian dollars!

We pay in Australian dollars and it is converted. We are charged a fee for this. For example when I bought wings (US $5.00) for someone recently I was charged a "FOREIGN TRANSACTION FEE'" of $0.19, because my money is in Australian dollars and it needed to be converted to US dollars for the sale.

The money, however I pay, comes from my bank account and that is in Australian dollars. I don't have any offshore accounts in other currencies. In other words, I don't own any foreign money. I pay by credit card.

Yes, and awaywithfairies said the same thing. She wrote,"Banks in Australia also charge a commission for foreign currency transactions (for example, my bank charges 3% commission)." That's why I was having trouble knowing what was not being understood.

Many credit card companies (my knowledge is mostly of NZ and Australian credit card companies) when they do overseas transactions usually convert it through US dollars. Example; if I use my NZ credit card in the UK the transaction goes GBP to USD to NZD and that is just the exchange rate. There is usually a fee hidden in there as well but this fee should now be transparent which is why the fee shows up on the statement when in the old days it was built into the exchange rate. I use paypay whenever possible.

Many credit card companies (my knowledge is mostly of NZ and Australian credit card companies) when they do overseas transactions usually convert it through US dollars. [...] I use paypay whenever possible.

Me too. It converts the amount into my currency on the spot, so I can see before confirming the transaction if the conversion rate is okay and decide whether to proceed with the transaction. And I find their exchange rate pretty decent. Often much better than what my local bank would charge if I paid with a credit card. Our banks use the same process you described... First they convert the foreign currency into US dollars. Only, then they convert that into euros, and the last step is the conversion into Croatian kuna. This process often bumps up the price due to different exchange rates. So I stick with PayPal.

For example when I bought wings (US $5.00) for someone recently I was charged a "FOREIGN TRANSACTION FEE'" of $0.19

By whom? And how did you pay?

Foreign transaction fees are generally charged by credit card companies. When I use my credit cards issued by U.S. banks in another country, the credit card company will charge me a fee for each transaction. It's based on the amount of the transaction.

If the European Supply Store had the option of paying in Euros (or GB£), it would eliminate that issue for a lot of customers. But, alas, not me, unless I can somehow pay in Australian dollars!

I still don't really understand what this means. When you are paying money into a European bank account, what valuta are you paying in and how do you know this?

With international transactions you tell your bank a) which currency to use to remove the money from your accounts (usually but not necessarily probably the currency your account is natively using) and b) the currency which should arrive at the target account (again not necessarily the currency the target account is actually using).

If the upcoming BookCrossing EU bank account *receives* money in a currency other than EURo, then the bank will charge a crazy amount for the conversion. Thus we will not be able to accept payments other than in EUR into that account.If the whole transaction is done in EUR (and happens within the EU / SEPA region) they are not legally allowed to impose additional fees.This means that British members, who mostly will have their own accounts use GBP, should tell their bank to do the whole transaction in EUR; in other words the conversion needs to take place on their end when the money is deducted from the member's account. That's why I'm interested how UK banks handle such transactions and in how far this results in (high?) fees for the UK bank customers.

This means that British members, who mostly will have their own accounts use GBP, should tell their bank to do the whole transaction in EUR; in other words the conversion needs to take place on their end when the money is deducted from the member's account. That's why I'm interested how UK banks handle such transactions and in how far this results in (high?) fees for the UK bank customers.

My bank charge a fee for making the conversion, some percentage of the transaction amount. That's pretty standard practice here (in the uk) i think - akin to the charges for withdrawing cash whilst abroad or any other damn thing they can think of to make you pay to access your own money (grumbling noises)

Some big international sites will allow customers to choose what currency to pay in. But they ate big speciality shopping sites so i suppose they have that arranged with their accounts or built into the cost

It would be interesting how paypal deals with this - I never looked into it before but I will try to investigate before I make my christmas list for mummy!

This means that British members, who mostly will have their own accounts use GBP, should tell their bank to do the whole transaction in EUR; in other words the conversion needs to take place on their end when the money is deducted from the member's account. That's why I'm interested how UK banks handle such transactions and in how far this results in (high?) fees for the UK bank customers.

Apart from my Australian bank accounts, I also have a UK bank account (a remnant from my time living in the UK). I found this webpage detailing the fees that NatWest (a large UK bank) charges for foreign currency transactions:

For online/telephone purchases it says: "We will charge a Foreign Purchase Fee of 2.75% of the value of the transaction (minimum £1)".

While not a huge amount, it does add to the cost of paying for an order in a currency other than the one held in the payer's bank account.

I guess it's just a cost of doing business in this international online world. If a transaction occurs involving more than one currency, someone, somewhere, will be paying a fee for it!

The upshot of this discussion is that, for me living in Australia, it makes no real difference whether my order is sent from the US or European supply store. I suspect that, for such a far-flung country, shipping costs and shipping times won't be very much different either way. My level of ordering will probably stay the same. But I acknowledge that it *will* make a difference for European Bookcrossers.

The upshot of this discussion is that, for me living in Australia, it makes no real difference whether my order is sent from the US or European supply store. I suspect that, for such a far-flung country, shipping costs and shipping times won't be very much different either way.

Oh, believe me, it makes a difference. You'll like the new shipping rates!

Ardik and Moem announced the news about the European branch of the supply-store during our annual Castricum-meeting. You understand that it was one of the highlights of the meeting.Thanks everybody who worked so hard to make this possible!

What would be nice now is to have a system for tagging the member-created labels for language and themes so it's easier to find something to suit. No doubt there are many attractive ones from the early days of user-created labels which are now lost in the bowels of the archives and may not otherwise ever been seen again.

There is no one set time. We send orders out to the EU printer once a week; they are then mailed out as soon as possible after they're finished. So if you order right after orders have been collected and sent to the printer, it will take longer than if you happen to order right before they're collected.We do find that most non-US orders spend a shorter time in transit now, since they're not sent overseas anymore.

Your order has been sent to the printer, it's currently being processed. It'll be mailed out next week.

That is wonderful news for all the EU Bookcrossers, congratulations on a job well done!I have a quick question since I only have three days to take advantage of this offer. I wish to pay for my order with a money order, not credit card, PayPal or cheque. Any special instructions for the old fashioned folks like me in North America?

You have done a lot already: you made a jounalentry for the book :-)Now you can do what you like: read it or give it to a friend or leave it in your favorit cafe or...just please do not throw it away ;-)Welcome to bookcrossing! If you do have more questions the newbie forum will be the right place to ask.

I got mine today! It took about a week to process and about a week to ship from The Netherlands to Switzerland. Low shipping, no customs, no waiting to visit US to collect an order sent to a friend. Nice!

I got an order last week. Everything fine, in order. Interestingly….postmark was German, return address was Netherlands, and I'm in Canada!

The store is located right behind (looking from here, Germany) the border in The Netherlands. International postage is cheaper from Germany. In fact it's *way* cheaper from Germany to Canada (or Australia or rather anywhere) than from the U.S. to Canada ...

I got an order last week. Everything fine, in order. Interestingly….postmark was German, return address was Netherlands, and I'm in Canada!

The store is located right behind (looking from here, Germany) the border in The Netherlands. International postage is cheaper from Germany. In fact it's *way* cheaper from Germany to Canada (or Australia or rather anywhere) than from the U.S. to Canada ...

Yes, our postal rates for books are booklovers heaven! I think that's why we participate in so many bookrings ...